Helping researchers who focus on health problems is seen as an important step to solving Nigeria’s many health issues.
These health problems include common diseases like malaria, Lassa fever, yellow fever, cholera, and meningitis. There are also growing problems like high death rates for mothers and children, as well as serious illnesses like cancer and kidney disease.
Even though there have been international efforts to help, these problems still exist. This shows Nigeria needs to find its own solutions.
To help solve this, the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) started the NIMR Foundation in 2021.
The goal of the foundation is to train young researchers, encourage new ideas, and support the creation of local medicines, vaccines, and health technologies.
The foundation launched a training programme in 2022 called the Grantsmanship and Mentorship Training Programme (GMTP). It has made a big difference by giving researchers the tools to solve Nigeria’s health challenges.
Dr. Ijeoma Ifeorah, a virus expert at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, said her career changed completely after she joined the GMTP in 2023.
She said the training helped her improve her grant writing, research review skills, and grow her professional network. She also won four big research grants after completing the programme.
These grants came from several sources, including the American Association for Cancer Research and the African Research Excellence Fund.
She also got funding from Northwestern University in the U.S. and the World Academy of Science (TWAS), which allowed her to attend a three-month training in Germany.
“The GMTP really helped me not just to become better at writing grant proposals, but also to actually win grants for my research,” she said.
She added, “Besides the funding, I also gained access to mentors who have helped my career grow and met fellow researchers I now work with.”
Dr. Victor Ayeni, a newborn health specialist, joined the 2024 GMTP. He said his desire to do impactful research made him apply.
Ayeni, who works at Babcock University Teaching Hospital in Ogun State, said he received a research grant just four months after completing the training.
The grant was from Grand Challenges Nigeria and supports research from 2025 to 2026. His study focuses on reducing disabilities caused by birth asphyxia (a condition where a baby doesn’t get enough oxygen around the time of birth).
“I’ve always wanted to do high-quality research that will improve the lives of children in Nigeria,” he said. “But good research needs funding, which I didn’t have.”
He explained that the NIMR training helped him organize his ideas and write better grant proposals, which helped him win funding.
He also learned how to set personal development goals, which helped him prepare in advance for when the grant opportunity was announced.
Dr. Chioma Tolulope, a Research Fellow at NIMR, joined the 2025 GMTP. She said the programme opened her eyes to many new ideas.
She was inspired by the stories of past participants who said the programme helped improve their research skills, so she decided to apply.
“This programme helped me build my skills in writing research reviews and scientific papers,” she said.
“I’m happy I was selected out of hundreds of applicants across Nigeria, and I look forward to doing research that truly makes a difference.”
While the foundation is doing a lot to support researchers, the government must also invest more to help Nigeria create local solutions to its health problems.
